AN executive of Al-Jazeera, the Arabic news channel, is seeking an urgent meeting with the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, over reports that George Bush discussed bombing the satellite channel's headquarters in Qatar.

Wadah Khanfar, the station's director-general, is flying to Britain this weekend after newspapers reported the US President made the comments during a meeting with Mr Blair at the White House on April 16 last year.

Mr Bush's alleged comments about bombing Al-Jazeera's building in Doha are reported to be contained in a note of the meeting. The British Attorney-General, Lord Goldsmith, warned newspapers they could be charged under the Official Secrets Act if they published further material from the note.

In the House of Commons on Thursday, a Liberal Democrat MP, David Heath, said Lord Goldsmith had threatened editors with the Official Secrets Act to prevent government embarrassment rather than protect national security. . .

The White House meeting, in April last year, took place at a time British officials and military commanders were appalled by US tactics in Iraq, particularly the assault on Falluja. Pictures shown on Al-Jazeera of the attack infuriated US generals.

"Al-Jazeera infuriated Washington and London by reporting from behind rebel lines and broadcasting pictures of dead soldiers, private contractors and Iraqi victims.

The station, watched by millions, has also been used by bin Laden and al-Qaeda to broadcast atrocities and to threaten the West.

Al-Jazeera's HQ is in the business district of Qatar's capital, Doha.

Its single-storey buildings would have made an easy target for bombers. As it is sited away from residential areas, and more than 10 miles from the US's desert base in Qatar, there would have been no danger of "collateral damage".

Dozens of al-Jazeera staff at the HQ are not, as many believe, Islamic fanatics. Instead, most are respected and highly trained technicians and journalists.

To have wiped them out would have been equivalent to bombing the BBC in London and the most spectacular foreign policy disaster since the Iraq War itself.

The No 10 memo now raises fresh doubts over US claims that previous attacks against al-Jazeera staff were military errors."

Military errors? As in "oops, so sorry we bombed you"?

Say, Bush's wish mirrors that of Taliban Rightist Ann Coulter, hoping that the not-even-liberal media sheep medium, the New York Times, had been destroyed on 9/11?

What is the Taliban Right's problem with freedom of speech? What was Bush's deep obsession with Al-Jazeera all about?

In a related story of dirty laundry finally coming to light via the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH link above):

The CIA has been accused of flying terrorist suspects through US air bases in Germany without informing the German Government. Handelsblatt newspaper, citing a CIA source, referred to the Ramstein base and the Rhein-Main base near Frankfurt.

The issue could have serious consequences for both Washington and European countries. If such prisons are found in EU territory, they would likely violate European conventions on human rights. If they exist in countries such as Romania, they could threaten its application to the EU.

The matter could also call into question European participation in the war on terror. For example, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot recently told his country's parliament that the existence of such prisons in Europe would have "consequences" for Dutch military operations in Afghanistan.

The CIA source told Handelsblatt that the discovery of CIA practices was "very painful" for employees. Another US government official said that the US plans to answer European concerns soon. And a top US official on Wednesday acknowledged mounting EU pressure for Washington to come clean about reports of secret CIA prisons in eastern Europe while stressing his country's right to protect itself against terrorists.

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